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SPEECH 



O P 



MR. MORSE OF LOUISIANA, 



ON THE 



OREGON QU E8TI0N. 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



JANUARY 15, 1846. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE UNIOW OFFICB 

1846. 



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SPEECH 



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On^-tht resduHon ^ving the tivdve months' notice for the termination of the joint 
occtipancy of the Oregon territorif. "j 



Mr. MORSE rose and said- 
Mr. Chairmam: I had hoped that the committee 
"would have risen, first for the few hours of prepa- 
ration it would hiivo tilTorded me; and secondly, not 
to have been compelled immediately to follow the 
•lo(jucnt s;entleman from Virginia; but as the House 
desire to heurajioihcr speech, I will goon. 

Mr. Chairman, as 1 may possibly separate from 
some of those friends with whom I have been in 
the habit of acting in this House, and as 1 shall 
give a dirterent vote I'rom the one I gave on a similar 
proposition last year, I desire to .state briefly the 
reasons which have influenced me in the determina- 
tion to vote for this notice, and 1 state in all frank- 
Mess that it is with reluctance that I follow the gen- 
tleman from Virginia, for it is not an aflcciation of 
modeflty, when 1 assure you that it is not in my 
power to entertain ilic House with any of those el- 
oouent and patriotic appeals, those meteoric fla.shes 
oi wit, or tnat .strong rein of humor, witli which 
this discussion has been from time to time enlivened 
by eo n>any gentlemen, who have preceded me in 
tiie argument on the resolutions upon your table. 

Nor is it my intention to make a .speech to pre- 
pare the mind.'? and he;irt3 of the American people 
for war; I yield to no man in my admiration of the 
policy of peace, which has, in the short period of thirty 
years, advanced our country almost to the front 
rank in agrictdttire, commerce, and manufactures, 
and which, if persevered in for thirty years more, 
must place her first in all those great elements of na- 
tional wealth. 

And while I believe, in a just quarrel, these United 
Stetes "arc confident against the world in arms," ] 
cannot agree with some of our western friends, that 
the American eagle will sweep the cro.ss of St. 
George from this continent, and throw the British 
li«n into the Pacific, without the r\iffle of a single 
feather. 

Sir, this optice will never be the cau.se of war. 
Oregon will never be the cause of war. It may be 
the pretencr; and if so, it will be a war of principle — 
monarchy against republicanism, the aristocratic 
few of (.rod's anointed against the Oi uolloi of the de- 
mocr\cy — and i'. cannot but be a bloody war; but 



with a firm reliance on the continuance of that di- . 
vine protection, and the trusty blades of millionaof , 
freemen, who own no rulers but of their choice, 1 , 
have no fears for the ultimate result. 

It seems, then, to be- conceded with perfect una- 
nimity, that we have a clear title to the territory of 
Oregon up to the 49^, and by a very large majority 
of this House, to the whole country up to 54° 40'. 
Every member, I believe, who has thus far address- 
ed the committee, has satisfied himself that Oregon 
is ours. W^hether deducing our right from the dis- _ 
covery of Captain Gray in 1790; from the explora- ', 
tion of Lewi.s and Clark; from the treaty with Spain 
in 1819; from contiguity of territory; or from tnani- , 
fest necessity, that fact may be r.ssumed in this dis- 
cussion. I shall, therefore, leave the title out of , 
view, and proceed to offer a few remarks on the 
course which, in my judgment, it becomes the gOT- 
ernment to pursue in the maintenance of its just 
rights, and the steps necessary to be taken to put ^ 
our citizens in possession of that territory which jJl ^ 
admit belongs to up, but which, by .some diplomaUc ■ 
legerdemain, seems now more to belong to fjhreat" 
Britain, or rather the Hudson Bay Company. 

What is the presciit condition of this questio«3 _ 
After a fruitless negotiation for a number of years, 
the President informs us that he offered a compro- . 
mise on the parallel of 49*-*, which was instantly re- 
fused, and that he ha.s withdrawn the proposition, 
and negotiation, if it has not come to a close, has , 
at least made a very sudden halt. Shall we reopen . 
this vexed question — reargue the same old propo- / 
sitions — go through the .same dljilomatic twiatings . 
and turnings, without the least hope ofever reaching . 
the end proposed.' ^ • 

If the succcs.s of our negotiations on the northern , 
frontier afford us any standard to judge of the ad- 
vantages of prolonging this — if the right to trade and 
establish trading positions, without a claim to a eiry- 
gle foot of the soil in fee-.^iniplc, has grown ao 
.strong by the national laws of prescription, ihatEn^ 
land now indignantly refuses nearly one-half of tbt . 
whole territory, with the navigation df the Colum- 
bia river twice superadded, I concur heartily with 
the President, that the sooner the notice for the c«»- 
saf ion of the joint occupancy is given the better; aod 



X 



ihii brings me to the di^cuMion of tiie measure im- 
mediately before the Houpc. 

Is a proper to give thia notice at this time? The 
Preaident thinks so, and has so recommended in his 
tneasage. Has one single argument been adduced 
to justify the postponement of this notice ? Have 
gentlemen any hope that negotiation will be able to 
effect anything more than it has done^ But, say 
gentlemen on the other side, This will bring on the 
war. 

I draw no such inference. The only effect will 
fce to get the ultimatum of England. And here I an- 
swer the question of the gentleman from Virginia — 
If England were now to reconsider her refusal, and 
propose to accept the 49th degree; and it is this: if 
thiB joint occupancy still continues, we are bound 
in pro eonscienlia to accept it. But once give this 
notice, and this government may take 49°, or refuse 
it, without the violation of any international good 
fiutli express or implied. 

;The principal — indeed, I may say the only — ob- 
jection which I have heard urged by any member 
•n this floor, is (assuming this to be a war measure, 
which I utterly deny) that we are not sufficiently 
prepared to maintain our rights at this moment. 
When will we be stronger.' Will it be to-day, to- 
morrow, or in five years? The American people 
will never, in time of peace, consent to tax them- 
selyea to support large standing armies or powerful 
fleets for an emergency that may never happen — for 
a"w^ infuturo. It must be a war in tsae, and then 
their purses and swords will always be freely 
pifcced at the disposal of your President. Sir, 
wo all have read the story of a people — saircc- 
ly three millions of souls — who, in resisting 
a simple parliamentary enactment touching some 
t^ or paper, which they might use or not; when 
afarge minority of that people were, if not op- 
posed, disposed to be neutral, without money or 
oredit, branded with a traitor's name, and threatened 
with a felon's grave, defied that power, who had 
etudded the earth with fortifications, and whitened 
the ocean with her sails, and, for a principle, en- 
gaged in an eight years' war with that "nation, up- 
on whose dominions the sun never set," and "forced 
the English lion to acknowledge the independence 
of the American eagle." Sir, it was then pro- 
posed to delay this question of principle. What 
Virginian— nay, sir, what American— has not felt his 
heart bound in his school-boy days, at the indig- 
n*rt rebukeof the forest-born Demosthenes. 

•Sir, there is a more recent e\ent, quorum minima 
pars/ui, when it was proposed to admit a revolted 
province of a sister republic into this Union; and 
great and wise politicians discoursed most learnedly 
about the advantages of delay; that it must ulti- 
mately certainly be yours; and although the accredi- 
ted minister of that sister republic demanded his 
passports, and threatened war, we did what we 
thought our duty, regardless of all consequences. 
What constitutes the difference between the cases 
now and then? Was it because our right to annex 
Texas was considered a violation of the treaty with 
Mexico? I will not pursue this inquiry farther. 
But for my single self, I have a little of that feeling 
*'OnU would ralhei- rouse a lion thamtart a liare.^'' 

'But I will pursue the argument for this notice. I 
would not vote for the notice last year, because we 
were hourly expecting an amicable compromise, 
although I could not well understand what there 
was to compromise, if, as gentleman say, the title 
to the whole of Oregon is ours; and because I would 



not willingly give either the strongest or the 
weakest nation any reasonable grounds of of- 
fence. Because I would not lightly hazard the 
hope of a satisfactory settlement of this question; 
because, not having the same means of ascertaining 
the situation of the negotiation which belongs to 
the President, 1 would not interfere with his policy 
on that subject. But now, tempora mutantem, el 
S(c. When negotiation is virtually at an end; 
when the English government has for the fourth 
(and last time I hope) refused the parallel of 49*^, 
and has concluded to wait for a more equitable offer 
on the part of our government; when the President 
has signified his wish to give this notice, and has 
called upon this House to show by their vote that 
they think with him, shall we grow circumspect at 
last? Shall we throw distrust upon -our title, not 
only up to 54, but even to 49 — or shall we lead the 
English government and the world at large to be- 
lieve that we will ever offer a better compromise 
than we have before offered.' — 49 twice, with the navi- 
gation of the Columbia river superadded. ^'Perish 
the thotight; never , niver, never; logo-like, to the Pontic 
sen, whode icy current and *ovipvlsive course kn&tos mo 
returning efcfc," we will never recede one inch from 
our just pretensions to Oregon. 

Sir, this notice does not involve a war. Is it not 
proviiled for in the convention? Is it not carrying 
out the treaty? Did the contracting powers so deem 
it when the treaty was made? On the contrary, 
would not the arming of your additional regiments, 
building your stockades, and all and each of the 
acts for which those gentlemen, who call themselves 
peculiarly the peace party on this question, be a vi- 
olation, if not of the letter, at least of the spirit of 
the treaty? This, I apprehend, was the intention of 
both the high contracting powers — that whenever 
each government should have offered its ultimatum, 
and whenever it was ascertained that this vexed 
question could not be settled by negotiation, that at 
least a year's notice should be given, that a sufficient 
time should be given to both conntriea to prepare to 
withdraw their commerce from each others ports as 
much as possible; in short, to give time for reflec- 
tion to both countries to determine whether their 
titles were sufficieutly strong to justify the arbitra- 
ment of the sword. This, it strikes me, is the com- 
mon sense view of it, else why was the year's no- 
tice inserted ? It certainly means something. Do 
gentlemen suppose that, upon the receipt of this no- 
tice, England intends to declare war? I can not 
bring my mind to any such conclusion. This joint 
occupancy is a unilateral contract; England, without 
any title, haa all the advantages to be derived from 
the use of the whole territory, and we, with the 
clear title to the whole of the territory, divide the oc- 
cupancy. I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet, 
but 1 venture the assertion, that this question never 
will be settled, either by negotiation or even by arbi- 
tration, if this country were weak enough to submit 
to it; and the title to Oregon will be in abeyance un- 
til the people of that country, finding that the tenure 
by which they hold their property so unstable, de- 
clare themselves independent, which, I presume, 
England desires, and which time will most assured- 
ly bring about. 

You must recollect, sir, that there are other par- 
ties more deeply interested in this matter than your- 
selves; the people of Oregon themselves feel the 
want of a "local habitation and u name;" their feel- 
ings, interests, .sympathies, and everything, leads 
them to attach themselves to you, ar.d unless you 



thrt>w ovcrihern the :egis of American liberty, you 
oaiinot expect that they will wait forever the termi- 
nation of a negotiation, which Elnglan J never will 
put ah end to, and which you seem equally disposed 
to continue, without the leiist expectation of a satis- 
factory adjustment. 

England don't desire Oregon; she r.iay desire such 
rolirists ns she has in the east; the population of 
Oregon would require too much trouble to keep qui- 
et under her monarchical institutions. They are 
made of sterner stuff than to be moulded to lieriron 
will Nor did she want Texas; she would not have 
taker, it for a gracious gift. But she desired to see 
Te'lCBa an independent government, and an adjourn- 
ment of the last Congress, without the passage of the 
Texas resolutions, would have lost that beautiful star 
in our-glorious confederacy. I need not recapitulate 
the argunients. Had I been aTexan, I would never, 
afiei' being twice rejected, have applied again for 
admission. The recognition of her independence by 
Mexico— national pride — everything would have 
conspired, and the glorious policy of inactivity 
would have lost us Texas then, and the same poli- 
cy, if persevered in now, will lose us Oregon. She 
will never belong to England; but they must have 
« government firmly established — recognized by all 
tJic world. Her language is, Where shall we go •" 
if you do not settle the matter, of necessity we must 
have a government of our own. England, with a 

ferfect knowledge of the strength of botli titles. 
nows that our government will never recede from 
49*^; but she further knows that there are men of high 
standing in both parties, who have expressed them- 
selves favorable to the independence of Oregon, and 
ahe is perfectly willing to "bide her time;" and if 
ttia ifi left an open question, some lucky moment 
may be seized upon to induce us to consent to the 
iodependence of Oregon. 

A.3 regards the inhabitants ol* that territory, 
independence is rertainly more desirable than any 
connexion with England; but in relation to us, for 
all j<ractical purposes, I had almost as soon see Ore- 

Sor belonging to England as to see her independent. 
lU the advantages ef the China trade would be lost 
to us forever. For these reasons, I believe that a 
delaj will be fatal to our rightain Oregon, and will 
give Great Britain all that she desires. 

If the view lliat I havt taken be correct, will Eng- 
land find any just cause of war in this notice, or in 
our taking possession of the wliole country .' I 
think not. Enjland had a much stronger interest in 
maintaining the independence of Texas than she 
has for that of Oregon, and fully as much right, 
and yet she neither made war upon us for this 
wholesale annexation ofTexas, and I have no doubt 
that she prevented Mexico from declaring war; for 
«hc krows full well that with the United States that 
"Ujtu tie vaut pas la r/innrff/Zf .''War with the Chinese, 
where the loser pays all expenses, is u different thing 
fron: a war with the United States, when all that 
ahe could gain, would not pay for the ammunition 
trat It cost; and my life upon it, Mr. Chairman, 
Rngland is not going to have a war with the United 
3tatea, for the sake of the Hudson Bay Company, 
or for a fur trade that is said to diminishing in value 
very rapidly. 

But if the President should be mistaken, and 
Uie venerable statesman over the way, and the 
chairman of the Committee on Foreign AfTairs, 
and all of us wlio are in favor of this notice, it 
oug'rtrot to affect the action of this House i. pen 



1 theac resohilions. There was a time wliei-. it bccaiii* 
our duty to pause and reflect upon the consequence)* 
of any particular measure, (where principle was nol 
involved,) and the sternest statesman might well ask 
what would England or France say upon this sub- 
ject? Happily, that time has long since passed, and 
our 'ii(!hirs are administered without the least ref- 
erence to the opinions of any nation on the globe- 
peaceably, but firmly pursuing such a course, a« in 
our best judgment is calculated to secure liberty and ^ 
the pursuit of happiness; and whatever others may , 
thinK, I have yet to learn one single act connected ^ 
with our foreign policy that I would wish undone; 
and as a proof of the integrity of our course, while 
we exacted and received compensation for injustice 
from the hands of nearly every foreign government, 
I believe the first claim Ims yet to be made against ' 
this government for any injustice done to the weak- 
est or the strongest jiower. Acts of individual wrong 
there may have been; but I cannot recollect one sin- 
gle act of our government, for which we have been 
called upon to make reparation. 

As an American, as a citizen of the world, it is a 
source of the most .sincere satisfaction, and more 
than all things else makes me admire the wisdoni 
of our forefathers, who transmitted this rich herit- 
age, and, when rightly and universally understood, 
will do more in favor of republican institutions than 
all the disquisitions of essayists than have ever been 
written on the science of government. This fact ia 
worth more than all the theory upon the subject for 
two thousand years. 

What reasons have been given to induce the be- 
lief that the passage of these resolutions will precipi- 
tate a war? It resolves itself simply into an expres- 
sion of opinion. It was one of the happiest of Sir 
Boyle Roach's bulls, when he said "the best way to 
avoid danger, teas to meet it plu:np in the face.'''' Every 
man on this floor has, or will find it so, in private 
life, and it is equally true in relation to nations. 
Havins; no aristocracy to support, or favorite fami- 
lies to Iceep in the ascendant, the world has become 
satisfied that individually and collectively the Amer- 
ican people, upon the slighte.'st encroachment on their 
rights, would almost as .soon fight as not. That idea 
has kept them from many a collision. I recollect 
when Gen. Jackson informed the French govern- 
ment, that if they did not pay the money they owed 
us, he would cause himself to be paid in a summary 
manner; war was considered inevitable; we were 
no more prepared then than now; but the French 
government saw that the peojilc were ready to sup- 
port the President — the money was promptly paid — 
and the harmony of the two nations remained un- 
disturbed. 

For these reisons, and others which have been 
adduced by the friends of this measure, which I will 
not trespass on the attention of the committee to 
recapitulate, I shall vote for the passage of these 
resolutions, not because 1 am in favor of a war, but 
because I believe that we are strictly within the 
stipulations of the treaty; because I hold it to be the 
rno.<t certain means of getting Oregon; because I be- 
lieve this administration is pledged to use asefiectMi 
means to obtain Oregoii, as they did to obiam 
Texas; and because 1 do i^t indulge for a moment 
the idea that their pas.sage can involve ihis country 
m a war; because 1 cannot see the necessity of a 
different course where England is concerned from 
that pursued in relation to Mexico. 

Before I could consent to sanction by my vote 



any policy whicli might be inierpreied >nio a falter- 
ing hesitancy, I must be entirely saiisfied that 
there is not substantia) da/iger of losing Oregon, 
and involving my country in a war; I must have 
"confirmation strong as proofs of Holy Writ." 
"Makfi me to see it, or so prove it, that the proba- 
tion bears no hinge-!t)op to hang a doubt upon," or 
I will none of it. 

There is one thing that cannot fad to gratify every 
true American heart, which this discussion has 
elicited, and which even more than the Texan ques- 
tion shows this to be purely a national one. The 
advocates of this measure aie not confined to the 
supporters of the administration; nor are they h\- 
fluenced by sectional feeliogs in the views which 
they take of this great tontin*.ntal question. Whigs 
and democrats from the North, the South, the East, 
and the West hav« buried their pitiful party ani- 



moeitlee and local jealousies, and only vie with each 
other as to the most efficient manner in which they 
will support an American President in his manhy 
and patriotic attempt to eettle thia American quee- 
lion; and if, in the manner of acquiring Oregon, wc 
differ, it only proves the freedom and independence 
that characterize an American statesman and a r^ 
publican Congress. Let us not degrade the dignity 
of the subject, by harboring for an instant the idea 
that President-making, or political capital, inlluenceB 
the action or the vote of a solitary member on this 
floor; and whatever plan shedl be finally determined 
upon, and should a collision with any foreign coun- 
try unfortunately ensue, let this sentiment n)eet a 
unanimous response from every member of this 
Congress, and the people from the St. Lawrenc* to 
the Rio Grande will re-echo it back: "Our covintry — 
our whole country — right or wrong." 



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